Sonic Boom is the latest cartoon created for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Produced by "OuiDo!" Productions and Sega of America, it's a comedy/action-adventure TV series a part of the latest "branch" of the Sonic franchise (alongside the Classic and Modern branches) that's set to get a new generation of children hyped and excited to get into Sonic the Hedgehog.

Quite a lot of fuss has been made over what Sonic Boom is supposed to be, where it fits in with the rest of the franchise. Some have even gone as far as to theorize that this Boom-iverse takes place in the altered timeline that was created after Sonic Generations!... Anyway, I think they're asking a very valid question, though I do feel that they're going about answering it the wrong way.

Sonic the Hedgehog, the franchise, is twenty-five years-old this year. And in those twenty-five years a lot happened - Sequels, side-quels on CD/32-bit add-ons, 3D iterations solidifying a new identity for the characters, and, through all of that, cartoons.Sonic is a very special franchise in that the media surrounding it, created for it... oftentimes ends up doing more to change it than vice-versa - so when you're looking at a cartoon show you gotta take it seriously 'cause this stuff is a big deal for Sonic the Hedgehog, and that's what I'm aiming to do here by taking a look at the writing, the characters, and its relationship with the Sonic franchise as a whole.

Merry Christmas! We wanted to do something a little special for this very special time of year by writing about our favorite Christmas memories for you all to enjoy. These are all gonna be related to video games, obviously, and, when you think about it, Christmas is a very very very important for video game players like us! Twelve months of playing our video games, twelve months of reading up on video games that we wanted, twelve months of eager anticipation, all leading up to that wonderful day when we get what we've wanted all year. It's a beautiful time of year best spent with the ones you love and care about and having fun with them, and hey - the fun that comes from playing video games is why we're here to begin with!

So with all that in mind, we hope you come along with us and enjoy the memories of Christmases past, the truly momentous days that helped shape what kind of video game players we are (either in little ways or big ways) today. And, needless to say, we at Game-Positive hope that you all have a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year!

There are a lot of things worth feeling guilty about. For instance, if you stole a cookie? That's not cool, you deserve to feel guilty. Lied? Nothing cool with that, you should feel guilty for that. Played a game and didn't have a bad time with it?... That's good! Having fun with a game is good, nobody should feel bad for having fun with something as inconsequential (most of the time) as a video game. Not any of you reading, not anyone anywhere.

I played Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. In fact, I own it on two different systems (the Wii U and original Wii), beat it once and am now working on beating it again, didn't frown and groan through the whole thing, so that's good! I shouldn't feel guilty for liking it, neither should anyone else who may like it, and neither should anyone who didn't like it for that matter, and I'm gonna tell you all why in this article.

I'm sure everyone who reads this article will have heard of Pac-Man, whose 1980 arcade game virtually revolutionized video games forever, and is one of, if not the most iconic video game character in the world. Similarly, just about everyone has heard about Ms. Pac-Man, and probably even Jr. Pac-Man (and maybe even Baby Pac-Man), but these other members of the Pac-family might not come from where you think they do!

Let's start with some history. The Pac-Man arcade game was made by Namco, and Midway was liscenced to make the arcade cabinets for it (as well as a few other Namco arcade games of the time such as Galaga). After this, Namco had begun work on their sequel to Pac-Man: Super Pac-Man, which came out near the end of 1982. The year before Super Pac-Man's release, however, Midway was getting impatient waiting for Namco's next Pac-Man game, especially with the success of the first game. They wanted the next big game! Interestingly enough, that same year, a small company called General Computer Corporation (GCC) had been working on a hacked version of Pac-Man and making it into its own new arcade game. This game was known as Crazy Otto. In this game, they changed the colors, graphics, and sounds, as well as changing many of the game mechanics. They gave the characters legs, for instance (Otto himself looks like Pac-Man with legs, and not like the Pac-Man you see in artwork. Otto looks like the in-game Pac-Man, with stick legs drawn on). They made the gameplay more randomized, and they made several different maze layouts as opposed to the single one in Pac-Man. Crazy Otto came very close to becoming a released arcade game, even going so far as to appear in an advertisement in Time Magazine!

Ah, Super Mario. One of the most iconic video game series of all time. At this point, the story of Mario's origins and success is something of common knowledge among video game enthusiasts: Mario got his start in the 1980's in the arcade games Donkey Kong and later Mario Bros., and then in 1985, with the NES, Mario became the world's video gaming icon with Super Mario Bros. And the rest, is history.

Even though Mario is an undisputed icon, he's not without his criticisms. And as for me, if you hadn't noticed from my infatuation with Mario Kart as expressed in my previous articles, and by the title of this article, I am a great big Super Mario fangirl. My love for Mario games is not blind, though - which may come as something of a surprise to those who have heavily criticized or gotten tired of Super Mario in recent times. People have criticized Mario games for staying the same and not trying anything much new - and yet, I continue to love them just as much. With my story of my relationship with the Super Mario series, I'll show how one series can be viewed in many different ways, and how a view being different does not make it wrong or bad.

Super Smash Bros. is an undoubtedly popular game, among competitive and casual players alike. From the moment I first started playing it, I was struck by the fact that competitive players don't play it the way the game is advertised, or the way it is initially set up. The game has a myriad of items, and widly varied stages where anything can happen - yet for competitions, they throw that all away, and play on always the same stage, and take away all those fun items that make the game so exciting. So I wondered: why? My answer seems to come in the form of "it makes it more fair". But does it really? Or does it just take away all the fun?

Most of the fun and excitement of Super Smash Bros. comes from the relative chaos of it. Things are happening here, there, and everywhere, ever changing, ever engaging, ever keeping you on your toes. This is traded in for the supposed fairness of one-on-one fighting with no items, and no stage hazards or obstacles. It is thought that by having items and interesting stages, skill is swapped for random luck. But wouldn't it also be more fair to have everyone play as the same character? Then it would be purest skill and nothing but. So where is the line really drawn? Where should it be drawn? I think it is very possible to have fun and remain competitive, and I will explain just how.

When I say "progressive videogame icon," Sonic the Hedgehog isn't quite the first character that'd pop in your head, is he? I wouldn't blame you - between the loop-de-loops, springs, dark and broody characters that get spin-off titles with guns in them, rings, magical emeralds, buggy videogames, and badniks, it's easy to forget how this impossible-in-every-way-imaginable hedgehog got his start covertly spreading an environmentalist message.

​With the Paris climate agreement a mere four days behind us, setting off our first global effort to tackle the issue of climate change, I figure it's time we took a little look back on Sonic (and the franchise as a whole)'s history in both promoting and spreading (secretly, or, as of recently, openly, which we'll get to later in the article) progressive ideas. From the triumphs to the failures, the missteps and their many wonderful and proud moments of success.

Mario Kart Super Circuit is my favorite game in the Mario Kart series, though that is something of a unique point of view; most people would list a different Mario Kart game as their favorite, or list this game as a weak point for the series. For me, it was my very first Mario Kart game, the one that made me fall in love with the series, and I still hold it in high regard today! After having spent the following years playing a few more Mario Kart games (Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart 7, and Mario Kart Wii), and learning all the ins and outs of each game; despite the fact that the Mario Kart games following Mario Kart Super Circuit being clear improvements over it, it does do a few things that are worth a return to the series, and would definitely improve the game!

Placing a red shell on the track.

The first thing that you can do in Mario Kart Super Circuit but not in later Mario Kart games, and that I find myself missing the most, is what happens when you shoot a red shell behind you. In later games, firing a red shell backwards is virtually usesless. A red shell fired forwards chases after the opponent in front of you, but shot backward, it just moves in a straight line until it hits something, at which point, it gets knocked out. Even launching a green shell backwards is better, at least those bounce! However, this game does it better. Shoot a red shell behind you, and it sits right there on the track, and it will wait for someone to drive past. Then, it emits a tell-tale beeping sound, and will chase after the driver who went past! When compared to what red shells do when sent behind you nowadays, you can see why I miss it so much. It gave the red shell that one extra useful dimension to it, and ever since then, I just can't help but feel like we're missing out.